Knowing your ideal client is probably one of the most important steps in setting up and running a coaching business

Similarly to knowing your “why”, defining your perfect client is vital.

What’s the difference between a target audience and an ideal client? A target audience is way too broad to be able to identify behaviours and propose solutions that really fit.

Over the years, it is an exercise that I have been doing over and over again for my own business and with my corporate clients and coaching clients, so today I would like to share with you the story of my ideal client.

In marketing, it is sometimes referred to as a customer’s avatar or buyer persona. Whatever you call it, it will become a central element of your marketing toolkit.

It will guide you in your content creation process. It will help you choose the most appropriate lead magnet, name your courses and package your coaching services, and also will allow you to align your messaging with your audience (speaking the same language, understanding their problems and offering the right solutions).

Before jumping on describing your ideal client, you’ll need to answer a number of questions. I also recommend you to choose a picture representing your ideal customer and give them a name!

Here are some questions to get you started identifying your avatar:

1) Who are they?
The best way to answer this first question is by either looking at some of your past clients or your favourite ones if you’ve worked with many people already. If your coaching business is new, then: who would you say would be your favourite person to work with? – imagine that person…

2) How would you best describe them? (get very specific and also describe their emotions)
This is the fun part, let your creativity leads you to describe your ideal client.
What’s their story? (Background, education, hobbies, vacations, family situation, etc.)
Create a virtual life for your avatar and be as descriptive as possible.

3) What’s keeping them awake at night? What do they struggle with? How can you help them?
Why do they need someone like you? How do they feel confronted by this struggle? Do they know what they need to do in order to solve their problem?

If you’ve never done this type of exercise, I invite you to download my free Ideal Client Profile Worksheet to get you started on defining your perfect client so that your spot-on messaging gets you more soulmate clients.

Once you have answered these questions, you will be ready to write the story of your own dream client.

So, let me share with you the story of my ideal client.

Source – http://bit.ly/151t8cG

Originally from the US, Kelly is a 42 year-old certified coach who moved to Spain 3 years ago with her Italian husband and 2 young children and decided to create a life and career sharing her passion for health and wellness with other mothers.

Becoming a mother and starting again in a new country was only the first part of her transformation, she is now ready for the second part – becoming a well-known and respected wellness coach for new moms.

Living abroad isn’t new to her since she’s already spent 8 years in Italy, that’s where she met Patrizio and also where they had their 2 boys, Lucca and Marco. (You can read the earlier part of Kelly’s life – here).

While living in Italy, she became an independent writer and travel blogger. She loved the freedom that the job gave her and got captivated by the infinite potential of the online world.

So 3 years ago,  just after moving to Sevilla in Spain, Kelly felt the call to have a career shift from writing for the tourism industry to helping others improve their lives.

She decided to enrol in a coaching certification with a well-known program and certified as Wellness Coach.  Since finishing the program, she has connected with many mums all over the world and has been able to work with a handful of them, mainly through word of mouth. She’s now ready to step up her game and help many more moms navigate this tricky period after the arrival of their child.

She knows she have a sound process to help new moms adjust to this new life and has had great feedback from  her clients. After each one of them, she was getting clearer and clearer on the transformation she wants to offer.

She’s not afraid of the tech side of running an business online as she’s been online for quite a few years now.

Since coaching was a brand new industry for her, she spent most of 2020 getting up to speed with digital marketing techniques for coaches and connecting with other coaches in her community. She feels that she has a better understanding of who she wants to work with and has created a dream client profile (She’s know it may not be perfect, but it will do for now).

Unfortunately, all this new input of knowledge has also fuelled her procrastination. She feels overwhelmed by all the things on her to-do list – to build her authority, to be visible and to get more clients. She finds it hard to decide on what her next steps should be to attract her ideal clients.

She’s been trying to do so many things online but is struggling with consistency and sticking to just one strategy.

She is ready to see tangible results (like regularly getting new  followers, new signups to her newsletter, getting bookings for her free discovery calls, and of course, new coaching clients).

She doesn’t want to waste more time on social media and is decided to be more strategic in building her mailing list and connect with potential clients via emails.

Her top priority is now to start building her email list. She’s created an account on ConvertKit and has drafted a document she wants to use as a lead magnet.

But Kelly still has a lot of questions around it  and has publish anything even though she for weeks now.blish it on her website.

She wishes she could have an experience marketer on speed dial to support, guide her, answer all her queries and get honest feedback while she’s implementing marketing implementation on her business.

Kelly is looking for support in this area.  She feels like she’s progressing in the dark and after listening and watching so many webinars on list building, she feels even more hesitant to press publish on the document.

She is a self-starter and doesn’t need hand-holding for the whole process but desperately needs the guidance and feedback of an experienced online business strategist.